Your Wine Guide

Sip

Often the first thing we do when a bottle is placed in front of us is pour a nice glass and take that first refreshing sip, but the tasting of the wine should only happen when you are convinced you’ve not got a ‘corked’ or ‘flawed’ bottle. So, after checking the colour and scent of the wine, (if it's corked it will smell musty) comes the best bit – tasting it.

Take a small amount of the wine in your mouth and – here’s the hard part – don’t swallow it. Let it lie on your tongue and move it around your mouth to get a proper taste. Next, gurgle the wine a little - yes you will look and sound stupid, but it's part of the wine tasting experience. This will release the aroma, giving you a fuller taste. After you’ve done all of that, you can now swallow the wine.

But never come to a decision about a wine straight away. Let the taste linger in your mouth for a while. The longer the linger, the better the wine.

Frank Maggio, professional wine expert from TasteofWineTV, says that some of the best wines usually linger for almost a minute after the first mouthful, in effect intensifying the effect of each sip.